1. Le s s o n 12 *Mar ch 17–23
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 2:21–25, Exod. 20:5,
Isa. 43:4, 62:5, Song of Songs, John 2:1–11.
Memory Text: “The Lo r d has appeared of old to me, saying:
‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with
lovingkindness I have drawn you’ ” (Jeremiah 31:3, NKJV).
Key Thought: How are we to understand the loving side of God?
http://midnighcry.blogspot.com

2. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com sa b b a t h af t e r n o o
Love is, perhaps, the most readily recalled attribute of God. And,
indeed, we cannot overestimate God’s love, nor exhaust the
depth of it. But perhaps there is one aspect of His deep love
that is not duly regarded; that is, God as a romantic.
To get a proper perspective on God’s romantic nature, we need to
remind ourselves, first of all, of the time frame exhibited in the Bible.
This book covers thousands of years of human history. And like all
history books, the Bible as a whole contains records of kings and
queens, wars and battle plans, and political intrigue.
No history book, though, records everything. The same is true of
Scripture. One does not find an exhaustive historical record in the
broad scope of time that the Bible covers. A lot of things are skipped
over. Most interestingly, though, is that God includes tender romances
within the historical record He inspired the prophets to write. The
question is, Why would the Lord include these kinds of love stories,
stories of romance, in what is so much a history book? Does that tell
us something about His own nature and how importantly He views
romance? This week we’ll look at why these accounts are included
and what we can learn from them.

3. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Su n d a y Mar ch 18
The First Romance
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of
my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out
of Man” (Gen. 2:23).
We need to begin with the initial chapters of Genesis for the first
romance in Scripture, that of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are special
creations of God. Both male and female reflect His image (Gen. 1:26,
27). Both Adam and Eve receive their life as a result of God’s incredible
creative power. The complexity of our physical bodies remains one of the
most powerful testimonies to the wisdom and might of our Creator.
Read the biblical account of the creation of Eve (Gen. 2:21–25). How
would you describe the kind of relationship between them as
depicted in this account?
Perhaps the most obvious point from this account is just how intimately and
closely tied together these two are. God creates the woman
out of the body of the man; they are, literally, of the same flesh and
blood.

4. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Su n d a y Mar ch 18
Adam then breaks out into what has been called the Bible’s first
“love song” or “love poem,” in which he openly acknowledges just
how closely tied each is to the other. In Hebrew, the word for “man”
that he uses in verse 23 is ish; the word he uses for “woman” is ishah,
again showing just how closely tied they are.
In verse 24, the Bible says that a man will leave his parents and
cleave unto his wife, and they shall be “one flesh,” another powerful indicator
of the intimacy meant for them. (Some have wondered,
What parents is the Bible talking about here, because there were none
then? The point is, Moses wrote this account many centuries after it
happened, and he used the story of their creation to explain in more
detail what marriage meant.)
Finally, their nakedness also revealed the intense closeness and
intimacy between this first couple.
Whatever else their relationship originally entailed, romantic love
was certainly a major part of it. God is not against romance. On the
contrary, He created us as beings capable of experiencing it. In fact,
that seems to be one of the basic elements He created in us.

5. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Mo n d a y Mar ch 19
Biblical Romances
Although the Bible covers a lot of history, it has made time to
depict some romances. There was a strong, affectionate bond between
Abraham and Sarah. He doesn’t desert her during her long years of
barrenness. In fact, it is only at Sarah’s urging that Abraham takes
Hagar as a surrogate wife. The ties of love between Abraham and
Sarah are strong. (See Genesis 16.)
It takes a lengthy chapter in Genesis to record Abraham’s servant’s
long trip to find Isaac a wife. Upon his return with Rebecca, the
inspired account includes another love story. (See Genesis 24.)
Another romance given a lot of time in the Bible is the one between
Jacob and Rachel. In quick strokes, the picture is painted of Jacob’s
impulsive and warm response to Rachel. Apart from the Song of
Songs, there isn’t another example in Scripture of a man and a woman
kissing, certainly not before marriage.

6. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Mo n d a y Mar ch 19
And if we recall that God is the
ultimate author of Scripture, and through His inspiration the book of
Genesis was written, we are reminded that God is a romantic, because
He includes this love story and this kiss in the Bible. (See Genesis
29.) (If you were writing a history book spanning thousands of years,
covering the creation of humankind and its Fall, why would you
include this romantic detail?) In the historical period enclosed within
the book of Genesis, there must be many time gaps. Yet, God inspired
the inclusion of these warm love stories.
Go back over the stories of these romances. Whatever the love that
existed, these accounts are in many ways similar to romance and
love stories all over the world; that is, these people faced many
challenges and suffered from the mistakes of one or both parties.
What were some of the things done wrong that brought so much
pain and suffering to these relationships? Most important, how
can we learn from their mistakes?

7. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Tu e s d a y Mar ch 20
God’s Love
Genesis shows, right from the start, that romance was to be a basic
part of the human experience. One man with one woman, period. That
was God’s ideal, the biblical prototype that models what romantic
love was to be about.
It’s fascinating, too, how often the Bible uses imagery of love, of
marriage, to depict the kind of love relationship God seeks with His
people. Nothing is to be more intimate than a husband and a wife—
except, perhaps, a person’s individual relationship with God.
Read Exodus 20:5. What word in there reveals God’s feelings toward
His people? How are we to understand that word in the context
of God?
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Many times God expresses His jealousy over His people. (See also
Exod. 34:14, Deut. 4:24, Joel 2:18.) Jealousy is a feeling lovers get
when they think that their beloved is not faithful to them. God is not a
distant, nonfeeling, impersonal benign “force.” He is a personal Being
with profound affection for the human family. However hard it is for
us to grasp, God does love us and, like any lover, He is pained by our
unfaithfulness.

8. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Tu e s d a y Mar ch 20
Look up the following texts. What are they saying? How do they help
us to understand God’s feelings toward us? Isa. 43:4, 62:5, Ezek.
16:1–15, Jer. 31:3, Rev. 21:9.
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The Bible openly teaches that God deeply loves individual human
beings. This is not an easy concept to grasp, only because the concept
of God, the Creator of the universe, isn’t an easy concept to grasp.
After all, we can barely understand the universe as a whole; how
much less, then, the One who created it? At the same time, though,
God has not only declared His love for us, He has shown it to us in
many powerful ways. The greatest, of course, is the Cross and what
happened there. What more proof do we need of God’s love for us
than what we have been given at Calvary?

9. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com We d n e s d a y Mar ch 21
A Book of Romance
Libraries could be filled with books that deal with the difficult question of human
suffering, difficult especially for those who believe in a
loving and all-powerful God (for the atheist, suffering is merely part
of what it means to live in a godless and meaningless universe and
thus doesn’t present the difficult philosophical questions it does for
Christians). However, without an understanding of the great controversy between
Christ and Satan, most of those books don’t make much
headway (even with an understanding of the cosmic drama, the question of
suffering is, indeed, difficult enough).
And although the question of human suffering touches all aspects of
life, we mustn’t forget life’s pleasures either. Why does food taste so
good? Why so many taste buds perfectly matched to sense the many
appealing flavors in food? Why are there so many shades of color? Why
is the human eye able to connect with, and revel in, all the vivid colors?
Why the joy of married sexuality? Reproduction certainly doesn’t require
the kind of pleasure that sexual activity offers. Some forms of life simply
split in half to reproduce. Imagine if that were what we went through in
order to reproduce.

10. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com We d n e s d a y Mar ch 21
. Even now, humans occasionally use methods of artificial insemination that don’t
involve pleasure. Why do we have the exact
nerve endings needed to enjoy sensory pleasure, even sexual pleasure?
The answer to all these questions is the same: it’s because God has
made us that way. God created humans as physical beings who are
intended to enjoy physical pleasures.
No book of the Bible deals with this topic better than the Song of
Songs. Why is that book in the Bible? It is a book of sheer romantic pleasure. All
the sexual pleasures included in the book have no connection
to child-bearing. The book explicitly reminds us of the specific pleasures
God designed and intended for husbands and wives. The effervescent
springs of romantic love can be traced to their source in God.
Skim through the Song of Solomon. What does the book say to you
about how God views the pleasures of the flesh in the right context?
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11. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com We d n e s d a y Mar ch 21
Of course, compared to many of the crude and licentious practices
of our surrounding culture, Christian ideas about sex, marriage, and
physical pleasures, in general, can seem outdated, prudish, and restrictive. But
these principles come from the One who created our physical
pleasures, the One who knows how they can best be enjoyed. Who
alone but God can even begin to assess the pain and suffering caused
by the abuse of these wonderful gifts? Who hasn’t been impacted in
one way or another by their abuse?

12. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Th u r s d a y Mar ch 22
Jesus and Romance
Read John 2:1–11. What does this tell us about Jesus’ attitude
toward marriage and romantic love? What does it mean that He
gave His blessing to such boisterous and long, drawn-out affairs
as Jewish weddings were in that day and age?
_______________________________________________________
Jesus had just returned from the wilderness of temptation, where He
Himself had drunk the cup of woe. But from there He came forth to
give the human family the cup of blessing and to consecrate the warm
relationships of human life. Jesus, who officiated at the first wedding
in the Garden of Eden, now performs His first miracle. Where? At a
wedding meal.
A Jewish wedding in biblical times was an impressive occasion. A
marriage in the small village of Cana in Galilee might have been the
event of the year. The partying went on for days. Rabbis and students
would stop studying. Everyone brought presents and, in return, the
hosting family was expected to keep guests well supplied with food,
drink, and merrymaking.

13. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com Th u r s d a y Mar ch 22
The running out of drink was, then, more than a minor disappointment.
It was a catastrophe, and the mother of Jesus comes to describe the emergency
to Him. She suggests nothing, nor is she passive. She speaks to the
servants of the household and urges, “Whatever He tells you, do it.”
Jesus then tells the servants to fill six water pots. Archaeologists say
that at that time a storage jar could hold 15–25 gallons. At a minimum
then, we are talking about at least ninety gallons. Some scholars suggest at least
one hundred twenty gallons.
The next thing we hear is the steward’s exuberant exclamation to the
bridegroom, congratulating him: “ ‘ Every man at the beginning sets out
the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.
You have kept the good wine until now!’ ” (John 2:10, NKJV).
If there are four quarts to a gallon and each quart yields six glasses,
the size generally used at wedding receptions, that amount is a minimum total of 2,160 glasses. This means, then, 2,160
servings of the finest drink for one little wedding party in a backwater village of Galilee.
Jesus, at a wedding, pours out the best that anyone had ever tasted.
In this miracle we can see God’s creative power, the same power
that created our world. And, in Jesus’ earthly ministry this creative
power is first expressed in the context of a wedding.
Romantic love and marriage are, indeed, wonderful gifts from God.
We must remember, too, that Jesus was never married, and thus He
leaves an example that shows that not everyone has to get married.
Single people can live full and productive and joyful lives as well as
married people can.

14. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com fr i d a y Mar ch 23
Further Study: In both the Old and the New Testament, marriage
is utilized to represent the tender and sacred union that exists between
Christ and His people. To the mind of Jesus, the gladness of wedding
festivities pointed forward to the rejoicing of that day when He shall
bring home His bride to the Father’s house, and the redeemed with
the Redeemer shall sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He
says, “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God
rejoice over you” (Isa. 62:5, NKJV). “You shall no longer be termed
Forsaken” (vs. 4, NKJV). “But you will be called, ‘My Delight’ . . .
for the Lord delights in you.’ . . . God will rejoice over you” (vss. 4,
5, NASB). “He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you
with singing” (Zeph. 3:17, NKJV).
Scripture concludes with this same glorious theme. When the vision
of heavenly things was granted to John the apostle, he wrote, “I heard,
as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters
and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the
Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give
Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has
made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and bright. . . . ‘Blessed are those who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb! . . . These are the true sayings of God’ ”
(Rev. 19:6–9, NKJV).

15. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com fr i d a y Mar ch 23
Discussion Questions:
l Which practices in your society and culture could easily lead
to the abuse of the physical pleasures that God has given us?
How can you help educate others, especially young people, about
the dangers of abusing these gifts? How can you show them
that by following the principles and laws that God has given us,
people will be in a much better situation to enjoy life than they
would be if they followed the customs and practices of society
that go contrary to the principles in God’s Word?
l In the civil laws God gave Israel, there is another reminder of
God’s romantic nature. What kind of honeymoon does God suggest for a newly
married couple? Deut. 24:5. What do we make
of that time frame given them?

16. Themidnighcry.blogspot.com fr i d a y Mar ch 23
Summary: For many moderns, God has dwindled into a noble
“example.” Or He has been diluted into a concept useful for organizing world
peace. He’s not, however, seen as a Personality whom we
can feel any love for. But Scripture insists that God is a passionate
lover. Reflect on the difference that this concept makes for the various
doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.